Here's the basic model:

- McKinsey hires a bunch of "top" school grads

- after a few years, some hires clearly have the potential to make partner, and most don't

- McKinsey encourages clients to hire the people who aren't partner material at an attractive wage

- feeling good about making a step up after capping out at McKinsey, most people gladly accept

- McKinsey now has an alumni network at client's which are a good source of future business

- repeat as desired to build up alumni network

Most people leave McKinsey willingly for greener pastures, not because they were not considered partner material and were forced out. People join consulting mostly for the exit opportunities, not because they strive to be lifers there

There's a lot of setup that goes into encouraging people to leave. Management works hard to make sure that people have greener pastures to go to. The people leaving don't see that side of it. If a partner encourages a client to hire Susie, and Susie leaves for the client, Susie might not ever know that a partner helped create that opportunity.

A friend of mine who used to work in management at Ernst & Young told me a bit about how this game is played. You need a strategy for getting people out that maintains the relationship, and offering backdoor bribes to lure people away is one way they do that.

I'm sure this happens, but the implied idea that McKinsey only keeps the best and only loses the people they intend to lose, is hilarious. Consulting sucks in many ways, even if you're consulting for McKinsey.

They don't have to be formally forced out, just realize that they're not likely to win the competition to be partner and move to other companies out of self-interest.

There isn't really any difference between what you said and what OP said, you don't have to be forced out to take the hint your job is a dead end.

Some people don't know this, but Sundar Pichai is ex-McKinsey. Could be one of those "not good enough to make partner".

Thankfully we don't have tattoos in our foreheads advertising what other people think of us :).

I'm sure some arrogant ass somewhere is telling themselves that the great ones become partners at McKinsey & the washouts become CEO of Google. Kind if like that quote "Anyone can aspire to be President of the United States, but few have any hope of becoming president of the Bohemian Club." [1]

[1] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-26-mn-2818-s...

My experience has been that the vast majority of McKinsey and BCG consultants have absolutely no real world experience. My company has been hiring these people for internal roles in droves and it's hilarious (and depressing) to watch how useless they are when they can't just leave after dropping some nice sounding but useless solution on someones desk.

Yeah. But they speak a language that more people should be familiar with. I've been part of organizations where the consultants roll in and hand-wave together a plan of action with statistics and proof. It's almost impossible to up against that unless you're prepared. More people need to know how to deal with it.

>My experience has been that the vast majority of McKinsey and BCG consultants have absolutely no real world experience

And one of these drones currently runs Google :(

Pichai worked at Google for a decade before becoming CEO, he's hardly a consultant with "absolutely no real world experience".

It's still an old boys club, but it's more revolving door now. You flip between industry and consulting. Each move you bring a few with you who reward you later.